During the tour, participants visited a wide range of institutions in London, Manchester, and Liverpool, including national and public museums, university-affiliated museums, and international art festivals. Through site visits and in-depth discussions with directors, senior management, and curators, participants gained firsthand insight into current practices and challenges in museum management and curatorial work.
London: An Overview of Trends at Major Institutions
In the first half of the tour, the group was based in London and visited key cultural institutions in the UK. With the special cooperation of the British Council, the tour began with a visit to the Council on the first day. Participants attended a lecture on UK cultural policy, international cultural exchange, and decolonial curatorial practices, which provided important perspectives for understanding the social context and challenges currently facing the UK art scene and for considering the subsequent institutional visits.
The group then visited Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Hayward Gallery, which was hosting a major retrospective exhibition of Yoshitomo Nara, and the National Gallery, including the recently renovated Sainsbury Wing. At these institutions, participants had the opportunity to speak directly with directors and curators about exhibition practices, institutional management, and current challenges.
At the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) South Kensington, visits focused on the Asia Department and the conservation studios, where participants observed approaches that integrate research, exhibition, and conservation.
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Talking session at Tate Modern -
Library tour at National Gallery
V&A East / Storehouse: A New Museum Model Opening Its Storage to the Public
One of the major highlights of the tour was a visit to the newly opened V&A East / Storehouse in East London. Guided by Director Gus Casely-Hayford, participants explored this innovative open-storage facility, where members of the public can view works and archival materials at close range through advance reservations.
The vast racks of stored objects, conservation work visible through glass partitions, and the carefully designed logistics and circulation systems attracted considerable interest as an advanced model that balances preservation with public access.
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V＆A East/Storehouse
Manchester and Liverpool: Cities with International Art Festivals
In the second half of the tour, the group traveled to Manchester and Liverpool. At the Whitworth Art Gallery of the University of Manchester, Director Sook-Kyung Lee introduced the gallery’s mission as a university museum, its collection management, and its engagement with local communities. Participants viewed the exhibitions Turner: In Light and Shade and Santiago Yahuarcani: The Beginning of Knowledge. The role of the university museum as a hub connecting research, education, and society offered many insights relevant to both Japanese university museums and public institutions.
In Liverpool, participants visited the Liverpool Biennial, where exhibitions were dispersed throughout the city, and experienced the operation of a city-wide international art festival and its collaboration with local communities. In the final stage of the tour, the group visited the Manchester International Festival (MIF) and joined a backstage tour of Aviva Studios, gaining practical insight into the production structure of a large-scale international festival and models of collaboration between cultural organizations and the city.
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Backstage tour at Aviva Studio
Through the continued implementation of the NCAR Study Tour, NCAR aims to create further opportunities for in-depth exchange among museum professionals in Japan and abroad and to contribute to enhancing the international presence of Japanese art.
Selected Comments from Participants
“The most impressive aspect of this tour was the opportunity to compare how major museums in the UK position and reorganize their library and archives departments within their overall institutional strategies. Reassessing the role of our own information and documentation services within the National Museums of Art, Japan, from an objective perspective was a significant achievement. I was reminded of the importance of effectively communicating our activity policies from an inclusive perspective by making the most of the strengths of an art library that is open to everyone.”
(Imura Yasuko, The National Art Center, Tokyo)
“Through a meeting with Tate curator, I was introduced to the director of Queer East, an Asian LGBTQ film festival held across London, and learned of the festival’s strong interest in the films of Keisuke Kinoshita. We were able to discuss the possibility of featuring Kinoshita’s works in a future festival program. In addition, during my free time I visited the Reuben Library at the British Film Institute (BFI), where I discovered a letter that Kinoshita himself had sent to the BFI in 1978, when his films were screened at the National Film Theatre (now BFI Southbank). Materials in which Kinoshita directly refers to overseas screenings and reception are rare, and I hope to make use of this valuable document in future exhibitions.”
(Inagaki Chisato, Keisuke Kinoshita Memorial Museum / Kamoe Art Center, Hamamatsu)
“The knowledge gained through this tour is directly connected to my current work on the qualitative analysis of viewing experiences and the construction of new relationships between audiences and artworks. In particular, in relation to audience research and sustainable forms of engagement in museums, which I feel are not yet sufficiently developed in Asia, this tour provided an opportunity to reconsider how I can design viewing experiences that are both deeper and more sustainable by referring to advanced examples in the UK. Going forward, I hope to continue exchanging views through the networks established during this tour and to apply these insights to both my research and professional practice.”
(Jin Qiuyu, Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts / Independent Curator)
